THE END OF THE GOLDEN VISA.
On the 16th of February 2023, the Portuguese Prime Minister announced a package of measures addressing housing, which includes closing the Golden Visa regime.
For the avoidance of doubt, the proposed changes refer only to the Golden Visa regime (which is a residence permit open to non EU nationals) and do not impact, in any way, the Non-Habitual Resident (“NHR”) regime (which is a tax regime open to new tax residents of Portugal).
No expected changes on the remaining immigration options for Portugal, namely Own Funds or Retirement Visas (D7 visa), Digital Nomad Visas, Work Visas and Start-Up Visas.
In the official document announcing the measures, no significant detail is provided with the exception that the Government intends to terminate new applications and include new measures for renewal (every two years) of Golden Visa granted based on real estate investment.
The measures announced still need to be drafted and approved by the Portuguese Parliament. The procedure will include a 1-month public hearing followed by a Draft Law to be released by March 16th. We expect a period of at least one month for final approval by the Parliament plus and additional period for final publication. In Parliament, it is expected that certain amendments to the final text are discussed and possibly approved so at this time it is very difficult to anticipate the final result of the law.
To this day, it is not known if there will be a transition period, although this is to be expected, as the country has proven repeatedly to be sensitive to changes. We will be expecting a grandfathering provision under which old rules continue to apply to investments made under the existing law while new rules will apply to future cases.
Already filed applications will be processed normally.
We will continue to follow up on this matter.